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FP Investor talks retirement planning with author Mike Drak

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Mike Drak is the author of Retirement Heaven and Hell. As with his previous book, Victory Lap Retirement, his new book takes a less common approach to planning. Drak is more focused on lifestyle planning, so retirees can actually enjoy themselves. Its not, he reminds us, all about money (though it helps to have it as well).In some ways, Draks approach shares a lot with the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement. But as he explains, following the RE part can get you way off course and even make you miserable. It turns out the best mix for most of us is to retire and keep working.

FP Investor: Mike, many of us spend our lives saving and investing for retirement, yet both your retirement books are about almost everything but money. Is the problem that people focus too much on money? Or that they have the money part figured out and just dont know what to with their money and themselves once they actually retire?

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Drak: The financial services industry has conditioned people to believe that transitioning to a successful retirement is simply a math problem that can be solved by simply saving more money. Thats wrong. You need to have a good handle on what the money you saved is for the retirement lifestyle those investments are going to fund for the next 30-plus years. Unfortunately, most people have no idea about the type of lifestyle they want to enjoy in retirement.

The advertisers complicate things further by brainwashing us into believing that a successful retirement is based 100 per cent on leisure, which is also not true. The truth is, to enjoy a successful retirement you need to know what type of retiree you are and you need to find a way to satisfy your own unique needs, values and wants. Again, this is something that most retirees have no idea about.

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FP Investor: You have a spouse who can manage your money. Most people dont. What do you advise people to do when they ask you about building wealth?

Drak: Simple, either learn how to do it on their own or engage the services of a trusted financial advisor.

FP Investor: You had about 38 years in banking. What are the best lessons those years taught you about the value and role of money?

Drak: The most important lesson I learned was about the power of compounding. I also learned that carrying debt was a bad thing and debt needed to be eliminated as quickly as possible. Over the years I watched many people crash and burn because they lived beyond their means and had no savings to fall back on.

FP Investor:You write about becoming a retirement rebel. What exactly is that and who are you rebelling against?

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Drak: I love retirement rebels because they are boomers just like me who are rebelling against the old-fashion beliefs about old-people and being retired. They are the trailblazers who are putting their own spin on the long-established retirement rules and showing us new ways of living and working.

We have been led to believe that people arent supposed to be celebrating their 100th birthday by going skydiving, or attempting an Ironman in their 80s, or starting a new business in their 70s, or going back and finishing that degree they never finished in their 90s, but they are and they are the people having all the fun in retirement.

Retirement rebels remain kids at heart, living on the edge, exploring their potential, travelling to new places, meeting new people, learning new technology, entering marathons in different countries and posting all about it on social media.

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The advertisers need to change their old-style retirement commercials and tell us stories about what other retirement rebels are doing today for inspiration and to serve as role models.

FP Investor: Reaching financial independence and retiring early sounds like a great idea if you can do it. What is it about the FIRE people that sets them apart?

Drak: I like the FIRE concept and it is something Ive taught my kids about. I just dont like the RE part. Everyone that I know who achieved FIRE early is still working to some degree. There is a message there. The beauty about FIRE is that you get your freedom back and can choose how you want to live out the rest of your life.

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FP Investor: How diverse is the FIRE community? There are devoted subgroups on Twitter who worship dividend stocks, and some are globetrotters, while others live happily in their vans.

Drak: There are many different FIRE levels. It all comes down to what type of lifestyle you want to enjoy post-FIRE. For example, you could live in someones garage and be financially independent, but do you really want to live like that? I guess you could describe my lifestyle as FIRE-plus. Im still generating some active income as a buffer against longevity. Benjamin Graham would refer to it as a margin of safety.

FP Investor: When you meet your readers, what do they usually want to ask you?

Drak: After writing my first book Victory Lap Retirement they asked me to write a book that would show them step-by-step how to transition to retirement. Retirement Heaven or Hellis a DIY retirement transition guide and its all about retirement lifestyle design.

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When I meet with my readers its fun to talk about the lifestyles they have designed for themselves and how they managed to find purpose in retirement. I love hearing their stories and how creative they were.

FP Investor: How important is it to have a financial adviser and for what service?

Drak: People who are not well-versed in investing should use the services of a financial adviser. Everyone needs to have a financial plan that works for them.

That includes widowers who had their spouses manage their money and who know little about investing and have no intention of learning, and need a trusted financial advisor. So many widowers are scared about investing so they keep the bulk of their savings in cash or short-term investments, which drives me crazy because inflation is killing them. Also, they need to be protected from the sharks out there, which sometimes includes their own family members.

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FP Investor: What for you was the biggest adjustment in learning self awareness and changing your own behaviour and attitude to retirement?

Drak: I had to relearn what made me happy and what my values were, something that I had forgotten while working in the corporate world. I then needed to find a way to satisfy my values, needs and wants on a regular basis or I wouldnt be happy.

I also had to become the real me, if that makes sense, and become authentic. In the corporate world I wasnt. I was a fake.

FP Investor: What is the biggest difference someone who is 35 today should be thinking about versus for you when you were 35?

Drak: Back when I was 35 it was all about working hard, providing financial security for my family and putting some money away for retirement. Today, because of job insecurity, stress is much higher for someone that age. To be honest, I dont know how some people can sleep at night, especially if they have a large mortgage along with a couple of kids.

Because of increasing longevity, people will need to work longer. And instead of having retirement as a goal, they should focus on achieving financial independence as early as they can. That is what Ive told my kids.

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We need to remember that smart retirement is about everything other than money - Financial Post

Gwen Merz was fresh out of college in 2014, working an information technology job she hated, when she decided early retirement was the answer. She socked away every dollar she could, saving as much as 70% of her income so that she could quit when she was 35.

Now 30, Merz thinks she may have saved too much. Her job and life goals have changed, but most of her $300,000 savings is in retirement accounts that cant be touched without tax penalties. If she could do it over, she would either save less aggressively or put some of the money into a taxable investment account with less strict withdrawal rules.

I would pay a little bit more in taxes on my salary, but I would have that money available for me, says Merz, who lives in St. Louis.

Some people save prodigious amounts so they can retire early or because theyre worried they wont have enough for a comfortable retirement. But aggressive saving can have significant and sometimes unexpected costs, which is why its important to strike the right balance between saving for the future and living your life today.

Many people struggle to save anything for retirement, so the idea of saving too much may seem absurd. But there is a movement known as Financial Independence, Retire Early, or FIRE, that promotes saving enough to gain control over how you spend your days long before typical retirement age. Some FIRE bloggers retired in their 30s from well-paying jobs by dramatically cutting their expenses and saving 50% or more of their incomes.

Saving for a 20-year retirement is difficult enough. Planning for one that lasts 50 years or more often requires extreme frugality both before and after retirement, as FIRE adherents try to make their money last.

The FIRE movement inspired Merz to set her initial early retirement goal. After finding a more enjoyable job and buying a house, however, Merz has throttled back her savings goals and now plans to retire at 55. One unexpected bonus from saving less aggressively: Shes less stressed about money.

I always felt like I could do more since there were people online doing more than me, Merz says. I really put myself under a lot of unnecessary stress and strain.

Certified financial planner Malcolm Ethridge of Rockville, Maryland, doesnt try to talk his clients out of the idea of retiring young. Many work in high-paying but demanding jobs in technology or finance and are feeling burned out by 80-hour workweeks.

Youre getting compensated well for the time youre putting in, but its not sustainable, Ethridge says. Theres only so long you can burn both ends of the candle before it disappears.

Instead, he encourages them to save enough so they can switch to work theyre more passionate about, such as teaching, working for a nonprofit or starting a business.

Its not so much I hate the job as The thing that I do for a living takes a ton of my time and I dont feel like it makes the world that much better off,' Ethridge says.

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Saving too much early to retire can be limiting - Altoona Mirror

Sam and Kari Zelinka of Madison, Wisconsin, are a fascinating couple. They're comfortably employed and live below their means. Given their academic and professional backgrounds, they could have chosen to live anywhere in the world, yet they settled with their three young daughters not far from where they grew up. They're busy, but Sam finds time to produce a popular blog covering personal finance issues for federal employees.

It didn't take long into a recent interview with Sam to realize that the 38-year-old has a clear list of priorities. Not once did he mention that he was a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, bestowed by the U.S. government to a select group of scientists and engineering professionals.

Instead, Sam focused on what's important to him: His family, financial freedom, and helping other government workers navigate the myriad of (sometimes confusing) government benefits.

Here, we'll look at each of his passions and talk about how Sam and Kari managed to pay their mortgage off in 10 years -- three kids and all.

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About five years ago, the Zelinkas decided to take the path less traveled. While other couples their age were buying new SUVs and large homes to accommodate growing families, Sam and Kari decided to vanquish all debt. As they saw it, debt was all that was standing in the way of what they genuinely care about -- spending time together as a family.

They adopted tips from the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement and came up with strategies of their own to rid their lives of debt. Their two most significant financial obligations at the time were their mortgage and childcare.

As happens, the older two children aged out and moved on to grade school, which helped to minimize those costs. With only one left in daycare, it's just a matter of time before she is also in school. And so, the couple were able to turn their attention to erasing their mortgage. They still had bills to pay and monthly obligations to see to, but here's a snapshot of how they paid their mortgage off in full.

When they first married, Kari had just graduated from college and started her first job, and Sam was still in school. He admits that things were pretty tight during those days. Though they didn't know it at the time, the budgeting method they were using was "zero-based."

In short, zero-based budgeting means that there is "zero" difference between your monthly income and monthly expenses. Here's how it works:

Another smart thing Sam and Kari did was to set aside "found" money. If one of them got a raise, tax refund, or any other "extra" funds, they set the money aside to pay for expenses that were sure to arise, like car repairs, home improvements, and vacation. Everything else went into checking.

According to Sam, interest rates plunged around 2016. That's when they decided to:

As Sam explained, "It did not increase our mandatory payments by too much because the interest rates dropped, but it did greatly accelerate how much we were putting towards principal each month."

And according to Sam, every spare coin they came across went to their mortgage lender. "Sometimes, we made 10 or 12 deposits toward the principal in a month," Sam said.

While they can certainly afford a more expensive vehicle, Sam and Kari share a 2015 Mazda 5 and spend less than $2,000 on transportation -- including about $600 on full coverage auto insurance.

Otherwise, they use one of the six bikes they own to get around and even have a cargo bike large enough for a parent and all three girls. Both Sam and Kari work within two miles of home, so that means when they're not biking, they're walking to the office. The savings on transportation was one of the reasons the Zelinkas could pay down their mortgage.

According to Sam, he and Kari still have the Mazda. "We drive it less than 5,000 miles per year," he said. "I think we'll have it forever."

Living far below your means can add stress to any relationship. Sam and Kari avoid a sense of deprivation by depositing a specific amount of money each month into personal checking accounts that the other has no access to.

Sam explains: "This works out really well for us. We don't fight about whether someone is buying lunch at restaurants or fancy coffee. It's a relatively large percentage of our spending (5%) but totally worth it to not fight about money."

Asked how his three girls respond to the family's frugal lifestyle, Sam pointed out that they don't miss anything because nothing has been subtracted from their lives. Besides, they never hear their parents argue about money and aren't subject to underlying financial stress.

When they want to do something fun, they head outside to ride their bikes and have a picnic. And a few years ago, they spent a month living in Denmark. Sam calls travel the family's "biggest splurge."

Sam started his blog GovWorkerFi as a way to document his path toward financial independence. It turned into an easy-to-understand guide that helps other government employees become more fully aware of their benefits.

Sam now has a place where other government workers can learn more about things like retirement, background checks, federal cost-of-living adjustments, and parental leave. And, as mentioned, Sam uses the blog to journal about the path he and Kari are on to total financial independence.

Whether or not the girls get the latest toys at the same time as their friends or Sam and Kari ever buy a new car is irrelevant because they've managed to figure out how to live life to the fullest without going to bed stressed about money. He's working now to help others do the same.

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How a Couple With 3 Kids Paid Off Their Mortgage in 10 Years - The Motley Fool

You may have heard that its important to take the emotions out of investing. But is this true for all emotions?

Certainly, some emotions can potentially harm your investment success. Consider fear. If the financial markets are going through a down period which is actually a normal part of the investment landscape you might be so afraid of sustaining losses that you sell even the investments that have good prospects and are suitable for your needs.

Greed is another negative emotion. When the financial markets are rising, you might be so motivated to cash in on some big gains that you will keep purchasing investments that might already be overpriced and since these investments are already expensive, your dollars will buy fewer shares.

In short, the combination of fear and greed could cause you trouble.

But other emotions may prove useful. For example, if you can channel the joy youll feel upon achieving your investment goals, you may be more motivated to stay on track toward achieving them. To illustrate: You may want to see your children graduate from college someday. Can you visualize them walking across the stage, diplomas in hand? If so, to help realize this goal, you might find yourself ready and willing to contribute to a college savings vehicle, such as a 529 plan. Or consider your own retirement: Can you see yourself traveling or pursuing your hobbies or taking part in whatever activities youve envisioned for your retirement lifestyle? If you can keep this happy picture in mind, you may find it easier to maintain the discipline needed to consistently invest in your IRA, 401(k) or other investment accounts.

Another motivating force is the most powerful emotion of all love. If you have loved ones who depend on you, such as a spouse and children, you need to protect their future. One key element of this protection is the life insurance necessary to take care of your familys needs housing, education and so on should something happen to you. Your employer may offer group life insurance coverage, but it might not be sufficient, so you may want to supplement it with your own policy.

Furthermore, you may need to protect your loved ones from another threat your own vulnerability to the need for long-term care. Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of eventually needing some type of long-term care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This type of care, such as an extended nursing home stay or the help of a home health aide, is extremely expensive, and, for the most part, is outside the reach of Medicare. So, to pay for long-term care, you might have to drain a good part of your resources or depend on your grown children for financial help.

To keep your financial independence and avoid possibly burdening your family, you may want to consult with a financial professional who can recommend a strategy and appropriate solutions to cover long-term care costs.

By drawing on positive emotions, you can empower yourself to make the right financial moves throughout your life.

Jennifer Barrett (AAMS) is a local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

225-612-0413 | jennifer.barrett@edwardjones.com

Edward Jones. Member SIPC.

Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors are not estate planners and cannot provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your estate-planning attorney or qualified tax advisor regarding your situation.

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FINANCE | The right emotions can be useful in investing - The Livingston Parish News

June23, 20214 min read

An estimated 2% of Black households, roughly 340,000 families, have anet worthover $1 million, according to theeconomic state of Black Americareport. In comparison, more than one in every seven White households have surpassed the million dollar mark.

Wealth flows through us, not to us, says J.D. Smith, author ofFinancial Distancing: How to Economically Quarantine Your Wealth,in an interview withBlack Enterprise. We shouldnt be six feet apart when it comes to building wealth.

He continues, We are constantly transferring money from one institution to another. We go to school and have to take on additional jobs to fund our education and overall living expenses. Money typically goes from our jobs to the education system. And this pattern doesnt stop after graduation. When we get into the workforce, money often flows from our jobs to pay hefty mortgage and student debt payments to keep up with the lifestyles of our colleagues. We need to allocate more money toward investing if we want to build wealth.

This week, McKinsey & Company released a new study examining the major factors that contribute to wealth gaps facing Black Americans.

Related:Kanye West Is Now the RichestBlackMan in American History

The study explores ways in which occupational choices, spending decisions, debt load, and saving habits contribute to the net worth of Black families. The study also examines how policy and labor laws consciously lifted the wealth potential of the white middle class while excluding Black workers. The sum of these factors and centuries of inequities have contributed to the growing wealth gap we see today.

The report summarizes occupational representation in various industries within the United States. Black workers are concentrated in lower wage jobs. They are also paid less than white workers for doing the same job. According to the report, more than two out of five Black workers earn less than $30,000 a year. In the long run, lower earnings leads to less savings, more debt traps, and limited investment opportunities.

Overall, the report reveals that Black households have one-eighth the wealth of the median White household. When you break down the numbers, the inequities are even more depressing. An estimated 7.8 million Black families have a net worth of less than $10,000. Approximately 3.5 million families have a negative net worth due to the overwhelming burden of debt.

Related:Kanye and Kim Kardashian's Daughter, North West, Makes It on the List of Richest Kids in America

Although the wealth statistics are startling for Black families, there are a growing number of individuals who are moving closer to their financial goals every day.

Lakisha Simmons, an associate professor of analytics at Belmont University, started her wealth building journey in 2016. She only had $5,000 in savings after her marriage ended. Five years later, her net worth has exceeded $750,000 and shes on track to become a millionaire next year. Simmons reached her goals by managing her expenses, maxing out her retirement accounts, and investing in brokerage accounts.

More Black people are retiring early and showing others how to build their net worth at any age.Jackie Cummings Koskistarted investing her money and reached financial independence at age 46. Three years later, sheretiredwith a net worth of $1.3 million while making less than $95,000 a year.

Low savings rates have led to more debt in Black communities, according to McKinsey & Companys study. Thats why Koski advocates saving a consistent amount every week to achieve financial goals. She shares that saving $50 a week for 40 years could help more people achieve their millionaire goals.

Youre not going to be saving or investing unless in your mind you believe it will make a difference, Koski toldMarket Watch. It may take a while to really get your head around things like me, but it happens, and when it does, it is very, very powerful.

The report shows that the median Black family wealth is $24,000 while median White family wealth is around $188,000. According to the report, Black wealth could skyrocket if financial barriers were dismantled.

Related:Whiskey Brand Announces $50 Million Fund to Help Other Minority-Owned and -Founded Spirit Brands

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Only 2% of Black Families Have a Net Worth Above $1 Million, According to New Study - Entrepreneur

The meme stocks GameStop (NYSE:GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) have gained roughly 4,040% and 930%, respectively, in the past year on the strength of social media frenzy. While these spectacular returns far outweigh the S&P 500's modest gain of 35% in the same time frame, they also come with a boatload of volatility. Hence, for a retail investor with an average risk appetite, nothing beats the conventional wisdom for long-term wealth generation: Invest in fundamentally solid stocks riding strong tailwinds.

You don't need massive amounts of money to take the first step toward building wealth in the stock market and achieving financial independence. If you have $700 that won't be needed to pay bills, the following three companies can be smart picks in the long run.

Image Source: Getty Images

Although mobile esports company Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ) recovered some of its share price losses in early June, the stock is more than 55% below the all-time highs it reached in February. Investors remain worried about the company's excessive share dilution(which also involved significant insider selling) and several adverse short-sellerreports. But this pullback in share price has opened an attractive entry point for retail investors.

Skillz still has solid growth prospects. In the first quarter of fiscal 2021 (ending March 31), revenue grew 92% year over year, while gross margins were 95%. Although the company reported a first-quarter net loss of $53.6 million mainly due to higher selling and marketing expenses, this is normal for a high-growth tech company in its early stages.

Skillz is also investing in gaming technology that allows players to participate simultaneously, which will allow the company to transition from simple multiplayer turn-based games to more engaging (and profitable) high-end multiplayer games involving first-person shooters and real-time strategy.

The acquisition of demand-side advertising platform Aarki for $150 million is expected to reduce Skillz's customer-acquisition expenses. While the company currently depends on third-party advertising partners, Aarki will help reduce much of these marketing expenses. To date, Skillz's revenue has stemmed mainly from users paying to participate in esports. While paying users grew by 81% year over year to 467,000 in the first quarter, they still accounted for only 17% of the company's totalmonthly active users. The acquisition of Aarki will enable Skillz to monetize its much larger nonpaying user base.

So although Skillz is currently trading at a rich price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 27.6 on a trailing-12-month basis, this fast-evolving company still makes sense for retail investors looking to earn attractive returns in the coming months.

ClearPoint Neuro(NASDAQ:CLPT) produces a navigation system guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that provides real-time imaging in neurosurgical procedures. Although MRIs offer superior visualization of the intricate structures of the brain compared with an X-ray or CT scan, they cannot be used with hard metal or metal devices. So ClearPoint offers an MRI-compliant system (i.e., made of plastic, ceramics, and MRI-visible fluids) to enable surgeons to perform procedures.

It also provides services and disposables used to deliver gene therapies to targeted locations in the brain in clinical trials for a range of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and glioblastoma. The company estimates its total addressable market opportunity to be over $1 billion. ClearPoint is the only company offering real-time MRI imaging capabilities for neurosurgery and a means to deliver gene therapy to the brain, so it is not surprising that the stock has already gained nearly 390% over the past 12 months.

The pandemic-related suspension of clinical trials and deferment of elective procedures had a negative effect on ClearPoint in 2020. But with elective procedures returning in hospitals in the first quarter (ending March 31), revenue soared year over year by 29% to $4 million. This wasdriven by increased demand for its neuro navigation system and MRI-guided drug delivery products. At end of the first quarter, the company carried cash of $64.9 million and total debt of $27.3 million on its balance sheet.

At nearly 23 times trailing-12-month sales, ClearPoint is not cheap, especially considering that it still isn't profitable. However, the company gets more than 85% of its revenue from single-use disposables and services sold to hospitals and pharmaceutical partners (the rest is from the installation of computer workstations), giving it a razor-and-blades business model with significant revenue visibility.

Couple this with the game-changing potential of its technology in neurosurgery and neurological gene-therapy trials, and you have an attractive pick for retail investors even at elevated price levels.

The stock price of container-ship owner Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) has gained more than 370% in the past year and is up 76% so far in 2021. The company has benefited dramatically from the supply and-demand mismatch in global shipping.

The pandemic-driven increase in e-commerce, stimulus payments that pushed up consumer demand, and inventory-building by businesses ahead of the next pandemic wave pushed up demand for manufactured consumer goods. Since most of these products are transported on container ships, this led to a dramatic rise in freight rates. And with global volumes expected to rise by 6.8% year over year in 2021 and 5.9% in 2022 -- significantly ahead of the growth in available container capacity -- these elevated freight rates will persist for several months.

Global Ship Lease is in an especially sweet spot with its focus on midsize and smaller container ships, where capacity is expected to remain tight until 2022. Unlike bigger container ships, which are deployed on major trade routes between continents, Global's ships can be used on any route.

The company is also increasing its fleet capacity by purchasing existing ships with attached charters (contracts with cargo owners to move goods), instead of building new ones. This strategy has enabled Global to rapidly make its new assets remunerative.

These solid tailwinds were reflected in results for the first quarter (ending March 31). Operating income was up 48.4% year over year to $30.3 million, while net income soared 569.7% to $4.2 million. The company has also refinanced $330.6 million of fiscal 2022 debt, pushing the maturity to 2026.

Despite these positives, the stock trades at a trailing-12-month P/S multiple of only 2.6. While risks such as disruption of port services, delayed deliveries associated with a spike in COVID infections, and the International Maritime Organization's goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions cannot be ignored, Global Ship Lease still offers an attractive risk-reward proposition.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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The Smartest Stocks to Buy With $700 Right Now - Motley Fool